Koji Uehara named to AL All-Star roster in place of Masahiro Tanaka

With Masahiro Tanaka going to the disabled list, the American League needed another arm for their All-Star squad.

Enter Koji Uehara who is having another strong season as the closer of the Boston Red Sox. In 41 2/3 innings of work this season Uehara has a 1.30 ERA, 0.74 WHIP and 52/6 K/BB ratio. This is his first selection to the All-Star game.

.@RedSox closer Koji Uehara will replace Masahiro Tanaka on the American League #ASG roster.

While the selection of Uehara to the roster has been met with a mix of positive and negative reaction on social media, MLB (and Red Sox manager John Farrell) was not about to give the roster spot to one of the AL’s Final Vote contestants before the voting period ended.